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I don't comment on this stuff much but god damn do I hate those lights. The stock ones look fine. With the blackout tape it looks just as bad.

'99 roadster for exterior. 6.0 for interior. 6.0 for driving. If only they would have made a 6.0 roadster...

so was the switch the problem?

common issue in the diablos. 90% chance it is the brake switch as said above. see this page http://www.lamboweb.com/Repairs_Index_Diablo.htm this is the specific page http://www.lamboweb.com/Repairs_Section/Di...ight_Switch.htm

VIN ZA9DU21B8WLA12978 On lp112: http://www.lp112.com/Lambo/LamborghiniDeta...9DU21B8WLA12978 Year 1998 Chassis Number ZA9DU21B8WLA12978 EngineNumber LHD/RHD LHD ExteriorColour Red InteriorColour Black Market USA Registration Number Owner Location Chicago, USA Source Fox Valley Motor Cars Series Modifications PublishedReferences Notes 9563 miles DateAdded 3/30/2002 But then a weird thing... http://www.kruse.com/auctions/monterey04/m...tereylowres.pdf shows it in blue? (stock photo? if it was red in 2002 and red now, why would it be blue in 2004? also the photo shows different rims) saw one note that said this: "ZA9DU21B8WLA12978. Comments. Year 1998 Lamborghini Diablo Price $149900.00. "

Looks like they closed the hood and retook the picture. It looked like it just had been closed but not pushed down to be locked. Sometimes the hood needs a little handwork to get it closed correctly because the locking mechanism is off center on the right. Beautiful car, very similar to mine except for the wing and seats. I'd have bought that one if I couldn't have found a Mill Roadster.

The other thing from the same conversation that was really funny is he talked about the "Ford GT crawl". This is for all the FGT owners who have a tight or semi-tight garage space. To get out, they can't open the door all the way. So, they open it part of the way and then can't stand up to get out.. they have to go sideways and then crawl out the bottom. When you have to crawl out of your car to get in and out, that shows real car love right there.

A really good friend of mine has a Ford GT. He has had numerous problems with people whacking their heads on the doors (as everyone knows common problem). His sister almost went to the hospital when she whacked her shoulder into the top of the door getting out. The GT doors have 2 problems. One is everyone hitting something on the overhang. The second is that the car is so wide, when you open the doors they hit things since they open out wide. He took a look at this as a mod. These doors swing out only 13 inches or something like that. So, the swing out is really small. Good for tight garages and parking between cars. And it gets rid of the head/shoulder bonk issue. However, he's not going to do it. It's the asthetics. He says that the GT is not a Enzo and the doors would make the car look like an Enzo wannabe. So, he'll live with the bruises, bumps and whacks. Personally, I'd probably go for them (and the GTX mod) if I had a FGT.

Air comes out, but it's not cold at all. Could be the AC compressor that need refilling? So there is no on/off button for the AC? If you have the standard setup (which I'm pretty sure you do), you just dial in a low temperature and the AC will automatically kick in. If you dial in a high temp, the heater will kick in. The fan button controls how much wind blows. There is no separate on/off AC button, it just kicks in when you set the temp low. I don't know about the SE but I'd check for an AC unit and if its there, check to see if it needs some help. Mine blows nice and cold air so when it is working, its great but I never really use it since the top is always off.

What model trickle charger are you using?

Autotech: Please give us an explanation of how the proper clutch and gas footwork should be. I always hear people talking about this, and I'd like to know the proper method of operation to ensure longer clutch life. Thanks! Frank I'll give my 2 cents on this. Big picture: Most clutch wear happens when the clutch is slipping. When your foot is off the pedal entirely or the pedal is fully down, you aren't burning up the clutch. So: 1. When you start out, start out slow and let the clutch pedal out somewhat quickly but not so quickly that you jerk the car. You can give it more gas when the clutch is fully engaged. Don't accelerate hard while the clutch is slipping. If you floor it and slip the clutch to get going, you are burning up the clutch. Never floor the car and drop the clutch. 2. When shifting, match RPMs. If you are shifting down, after pushing the clutch pedal down, increase the RPM to match where you need to be when you shift down. If you do things right, the shift will be so smooth you won't feel it When shifting up, shift quickly but also let the RPM drop to the correct amount to match the new gear when the clutch is down. 3. Don't drive with the foot riding on the clutch pedal. If you can't feel any of your shifts, then you are driving it correctly. If the car is jerking when you shift or the engine revs up or down after a shift, then you are doing something wrong.

Thanks. I ask because I noticed that the Murci doors seem to lift up all the way on their own and wondered if the Diablo doors were supposed to do the same. Mine require you to lift them up a bit, they don't go automatically on their own. I'll just leave it as is if that's the way its supposed to be.

When you open the door in a Diablo, should it raise automatically on its own or should you need to lift it a little bit?

I'm on vacation for a few weeks so I have some time to take look at this (and a bunch of non Diablo related things ) I wanted to see what the temp was in the engine compartment where the lift supports are so I can have the guy looking at them heat them up to the right temperature when he checks them. I wanted to do a drive and watch the temp go up and down with one of those remote temperature gauges where you just have a sensor with RF that tells a base unit what the temp is. A lot of those gauges are nice and small but when looking at them, the max temp all of them could read was 140 degrees. After that, pretty much all of them just say "out of range". Those wouldn't work so instead, I had to go with a standard (mineral spirit) thermometer. I supported it so it wouldn't break and attached it to the area where the left lift support sits. Then I drove the car for 20 minutes, mostly freeway driving until it reached operating temperature, pulled it back in the garage and tried to get a reading as quickly as possible. Once you open the decklid, the temp drops fairly rapidly. The temp read about 140 degrees after the drive. The them goes up to 230. That was a lot less than I thought it might be. In fact on the way back home from picking up the thermometer (in a different car), I had the therm sitting on a grey dashboard and it read 140 because it was around noon and full sun was out and the dashboard was absorbing all the heat. The dashboard was burning hot. When I did the drive with the Diablo it was 60 degrees. The engine compartment is going to be hotter on a hot day. I'd have to guess the max temp of that area of the engine compartment is going to be 200 degrees or less though even on a hot day and with a hot engine. I haven't got much else to go on but that sounds reasonable after this really rough test. That is the number I'm going to ask the guy to go on when he heats up the lift supports. From the Stabilus site and from just some of their generic gas springs, it states: "Stabilus gas springs are designed for a temperature range of -30°C and +80°C. Of course, there are also specialized gas springs available for heavy-duty applications." 80C is around 170F. So, the gas lift supports look like they are pretty close to within range. I think the pressure just gets too high with the increase temp. With a rough calculation of (Pi/Ti = Pf/Tf), there would be around a 25% increase in pressure from room temp to 200 degrees. I'd guess a lift support with a bit more than half the pressure of these and oil to hold the hood in place at the top might be best. I'm not sure if something as light as that will work so I'll just pass the info on to the guy working on the support. They would give quite a bit of wiggle room. Even at 200 degrees, half pressure supports would have a lot less pressure than the existing ones do at room temperature. I double checked the thermometer by putting it in the oven at 200 degress. It read over 200 degrees so its good. It drops pretty quickly once the door is open, though, much like when you open the decklid.

I looked at some online pictures of the lift supports for other models and couldn't find one that looked like it had as short supports as the Roadster (far forward and short so higher pressure). Here is a great online writeup about lift supports in general. It also has the calculations for the increase in pressure when temperature increases. I don't know what temp the engine compartment gets but I'd hazard a guess from the calculation (Pi/Ti = Pf/Tf) that the engine lift support would increase force 60% if they go from cold to hot: http://www.guden.com/pdf/gas_springs.pdf Also, an interesting lift support option for people who live in cold climates, there is an option on the lift supports (maybe just from Guden?) that has a boost in pressure when the temp is